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Home Food Preparation Research

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Led by Senbagam Virudachalam, MD, MSHP, a CHOP CPCE and Policy Lab core faculty member and instructor of Pediatrics at both CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, this line of research focuses on understanding and improving home food preparation practices in families with young children. Through this work, we aim to inform dialogue, practice, and policy to help ensure that all children have access to a stable home food environment, enabling them to grow into healthy adults. We also seek a better understanding of how best to promote positive health behaviors, in both community and home-based settings.

A recent study we published in Public Health Nutrition found that home dinner preparation habits varied substantially with socio-economic status and race/ethnicity. These associations will help to inform the design and appropriate tailoring of interventions to improve home food preparation practices and promote healthy eating.

What’s Next:
CPCE researchers have the following active research projects underway:

Cooking With Friends – Researchers are developing a peer-mentored intervention to improve home food prep practices among Early Head Start families.

Crafting a Recipe for Early Childhood Health – Researchers are ascertaining parental preferences for a home food prep intervention.

Grow2Gether – Researchers are conducting a pilot study of mothers using a Facebook group intervention to prevent childhood obesity from infancy.

Implementing a Food Insecurity Tool – Researchers are using the Electronic Medical Record to implement a food insecurity tool to help target intervention and prevention efforts for low-income families.

Funding: US Department of Health and Human Services, Edna G. Kynett Foundation, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Healthy Weight Program

Please contact Senbagam Virudachalam, MD, MSHP, CHOP CPCE/Policy Lab core faculty member and instructor of Pediatrics at both CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, for more information about this line of research.